wheels destroy

Remove generated code and files.

Synopsis

wheels destroy [type] [name] [options]

Description

The wheels destroy command reverses the actions of generator commands, removing files and code that were previously generated. It's useful for cleaning up mistakes or removing features.

Arguments

Argument	Description	Required
type	Type of resource to destroy	Yes
name	Name of the resource	Yes

Resource Types

• controller - Remove a controller and its views

• model - Remove a model

• view - Remove a specific view

• scaffold - Remove entire scaffolding

• migration - Remove a migration file

• test - Remove test files

Options

Option	Description
--force	Skip confirmation prompts
--dry-run	Show what would be removed without doing it
--help	Show help information

Examples

Remove a controller

wheels destroy controller users

Removes:

• /controllers/Users.cfc

• /views/users/ directory and all views

Remove a model

wheels destroy model user

Removes:

• /models/User.cfc

• Related test files

Remove scaffolding

wheels destroy scaffold product

Removes:

• /models/Product.cfc

• /controllers/Products.cfc

• /views/products/ directory

• All CRUD views

• Test files

Remove a specific view

wheels destroy view users/edit

Removes:

• /views/users/edit.cfm

Remove a migration

wheels destroy migration CreateUsersTable

Removes:

• Migration file from /db/migrate/

Dry run to preview

wheels destroy scaffold order --dry-run

Shows what would be removed without deleting

Force removal without confirmation

wheels destroy model tempdata --force

Confirmation

By default, the command asks for confirmation:

The following files will be removed:
- /models/User.cfc
- /tests/models/UserTest.cfc

Are you sure you want to proceed? (y/N):

Safety Features

1. Confirmation Required: Always asks unless --force is used

2. Dry Run Mode: Preview changes with --dry-run

3. No Database Changes: Only removes files, not database tables

4. Git Awareness: Warns if files have uncommitted changes

What's NOT Removed

• Database tables or columns

• Routes (must be manually removed)

• References in other files

• Git history

Best Practices

1. Always use --dry-run first

2. Commit changes before destroying

3. Check for file dependencies

4. Update routes manually

5. Remove database tables separately

Common Workflows

Undo a scaffold

# First, see what would be removed
wheels destroy scaffold product --dry-run

# If okay, proceed
wheels destroy scaffold product

# Remove the database table
wheels dbmigrate create remove_table products
wheels dbmigrate latest

Clean up a mistake

# Accidentally created wrong controller
wheels generate controller userss  # Oops, typo!
wheels destroy controller userss   # Fix it
wheels generate controller users   # Create correct one

Notes

• Cannot be undone - files are permanently deleted

• Does not remove custom code added to generated files

• Works only with files created by generators

See Also

• wheels generate controller - Generate controllers
• wheels generate model - Generate models
• wheels scaffold - Generate scaffolding